Countries for Infant Adoptions

Nowadays, it is very difficult, though not completely impossible, to bring home a child who is under 12 months of age. The reason is simple. The U.S. and most foreign countries are increasingly trying to be sure that adoptions are conducted in an ethical, legal way, and that every opportunity is provided for a child to be raised within his/her birth country. The adoption paperwork requirements established by the U.S. government, the country of the child's citizenship, and -- in many cases -- the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption (an international treaty) may take many months to complete, but ultimately, the adoptive parents get a certain degree of comfort that their child was not bought or stolen, and that he/she had little hope of finding a family in his/her birth country. Since you are single and unwilling to make multiple trips, you also have some constraints that make some countries impossible. You mentioned Ethiopia. Russia, traditionally favored by single women, would also be out of the question for you, since Russia tends to involve anywhere from two to four trips, these days. And it is not just a matter of unwillingness to travel; the more you have to travel, especially if your child comes from a remote area, like Siberia, the higher your overall costs will be, with fees sometimes reaching $50,000 or more. In general, you will have the greatest likelihood of finding an infant in some of the most newly opened countries, since it is those countries that are likely to have a less well-developed adoption system and more informal processes. You might want to look, for example, at places like Rwanda and Congo in Africa, or Belize in Latin America. But because countries like these have not been open to international adoption for a long time, they are inherently riskier than others. "Glitches" are more likely, and rules may change from minute to minute. With such countries, it is absolutely imperative that you work with very highly experienced, ethical adoption agencies, or you could wind up losing your money and not getting a child. Sharon